Tohoku bullet train services to be extended to Aomori City in December

Tohoku bullet train services to be extended to Aomori City in December

Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train services will be extended to the city of Aomori in December with the opening of a roughly 80-kilometer section in northeastern Japan, East Japan Railway Co said Tuesday.

The Dec 4 opening of the section between Hachinohe and Shin-Aomori stations, both in Aomori Prefecture, will enable passengers to travel between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori in about 3 hours, 10 minutes, on the fastest train available on the line.

The upcoming extension was originally scheduled for next spring, but East Japan Railway, known as JR East, said it had decided to move up the schedule reflecting a smooth construction process and strong local requests to open the services in the new section soon.

JR East gave the nickname ‘‘Hayabusa (falcon)’’ to the new model of train to be introduced to the Tohoku Shinkansen Line next spring.

Hayabusa will initially operate with speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, compared with up to 275 kph for ‘‘Hayate (swift wind),’’ currently in service on the same line.

JR East plans to operate Hayabusa at a maximum 320 kph beginning in the spring of 2013 to make it the fastest train in Japan and shorten the travel duration between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori to about 3 hours, 5 minutes, at the fastest.